Meet three cheese shop owners and remember to #shoplocal this holiday season
ALYSSA GILBERT
Ollie’s American Cheese + Provisions, Oakland, California
Tell us about your shop’s all-American cheese focus.
I was super inspired by Anne Saxelby and everything she did. I’m also really passionate about local food and supporting our local food economy, so it just seemed like a great way to have my own niche in the cheese industry in Oakland, as well as support those small domestic makers.
We love everything that Blakesville Creamery does, and St. Stephen from Four Fat Fowl is probably our bestseller by far.
What is your shop’s role in the community?
I think it’s a place of connection that brings people together over food and storytelling—I feel like that’s the main reason people come in. Sure, the cheese is fantastic, but they want to hear about it. They want to hear who made it and the story behind it.
What is your go-to pairing for holiday entertaining?
I am a big holiday entertainer. My go-to is Rustic Bakery’s Chocolate Cacao Nib Shortbread with some Valley Ford Cheese & Creamery Grazin’ Girl blue and a drizzle of goat’s milk caramel.
Everyone’s like, “Oh, cheese and cookies. That’s crazy.” But then they eat it and they’re like, “Oh my God, it’s so good!”
ROB KOBRZYNSKI
Milford Wine & Cheese Co., Milford, Pennsylvania
How did you choose the location for your shop?
My wife and I sought a town rich in historical charm and natural beauty, with a strong sense of local community and commitment. That perfect little town turned out to be Milford, Pennsylvania, nestled on the banks of the Delaware River.
What’s more, our cheese shop is conveniently located just 30 minutes from our home base, Three Hammers Winery in Hawley. Having both locations relatively close has been fantastic. We’ve seen a wonderful trend of guests visiting both the winery and the cheese shop on the same day.
What is the best thing about running a cheese shop?
The most joyful aspect of running our cheese shop is definitely the educational journey we get to share with our guests, turning it into a fun and elevated experience. We believe everyone loves to learn and try new things.
While wine and cheese can sometimes feel intimidating, our goal is to offer carefully curated products that empower our guests to explore. When they walk away having discovered something new and exciting, it brings us immense joy knowing we facilitated that moment of delicious learning.
How do you promote community collaboration?
I find it beneficial for people to rethink their marketing strategy sometimes—like collaborating with a local business that’s like-minded and can offer a service. For example, we did a wine and cheese pairing with a local hotel, and we collaborate with local breweries. When we’re done with our winemaking, we give our grape skins to our local brewer friends. They create a collaboration beer-wine canned product, which is really lovely.
We also work with Calkins Creamery in Honesdale—Emily Montgomery is super cool. We’ve been buying cheese from her since day one at the winery, and now we also buy wheels of cheese from her for the shop.
Also, Benita Kasbo from Kasbo’s Market is a dear friend of ours. She’s hosted Syrian cheese classes at our shop, and every class she does sells out. She teaches four to five ways of preparing her specific cheese, and we pair five of our wines with her samplings.
ALI CAMERON
Bloom Cheese Collective, Fayetteville, Arkansas
Did you face any challenges while opening?
It’s hard to get cheese here in Arkansas. You can have a dream, you can have a space, you can have some money. But how are you actually going to get cheese here safely and in good shape?
Being involved in the American Cheese Society and working in distribution, I’ve met a ton of people. When it came to opening my business, I thought, “OK, I’ve got to make some phone calls.” And my buddies, when I called them, were like, “How can we help?”
At the end of the day, I want to buy cheese for my friends. I want to sell cheese to my friends. Getting to do that is a dream come true.
What is your shop’s role in the community?
I want to be collaborating with the other artisans around us. I think the community here is so big and so important. People love each other. Chefs and small business owners have come out of the woodwork supporting us. This is the first business I’ve opened. I didn’t really know what I was doing, so every one of my friends were instrumental in helping us.
There are a lot of people here who travel. When they come back, they say things like, “I’m really craving that cheese I had in France.” Being able to feed off their excitement, and for them to feed off mine has been really fun.
What’s your go-to pairing for winter?
We’ve got a wood-burning stove, and it’s fantastic. It heats our whole home. My husband loves to chop wood, oddly enough. So, a lot of things for us center around wood-burning.
At the end of the day, when I don’t have time to cook a meal, I ask myself: “What do we have in our fridge?” Pickles and all kinds of charcuterie. Let’s heat up some cheese and scrape it on top. People want to roast marshmallows? I want to cook cheese. I want a raclette over the wood fire.
Alana Pedalino
Alana Pedalino serves as Managing Editor of culture. Her work has been featured in Bon Appétit, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and more. She loves to write, cook, and kayak. Find her bylines at alanapedalino.com.
